For the past several weeks, we have focused on that mysterious end point of the spiritual journey – Enlightenment.  This term was first introduced into the spiritual literature by Gautama, the Buddha.  The term ‘Buddha’ literally means “the Awakened One.”  We began our conversation by comparing the original formulation of Enlightenment with that of the contemporary American spiritual writer, Dr. David Hawkins.  Last week, we looked at the nature of Enlightenment, and this week, we will focus on some of its attributes.

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In my mind, the most striking attribute of Enlightenment is the perception of the underlying unity of Creation through non-dual awareness.  Because all language is built on the subject–object duality, non-dual awareness is, of necessity, an awareness without words.  This means that an enlightened person’s perception is immediate, direct, and unmediated by language.  In this frame of reference, the observer and the observed are identical.  While the enlightened one is still able to perceive separate entities, the deeper perception is one of underlying unity.

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This brings us to the second attribute of Enlightenment, which is the absence of a sense of self, the absence of an ego.  The very idea of this is frightening to many in our current culture.  The question always seems to arise, “Who would I be if I were not myself?”  It seems clear that stepping out of our customary personal frame of reference is extremely difficult, if not impossible, for us to imagine.

From our earliest memories, our personal self has organized all of our experiences.  Our self is the glue that holds together our thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, and memories.  Taken together, these elements of our personal experience result in a sense of ourselves as the ‘doer’ of our actions.  In addition to this sense of ourselves as agents, able to cause a variety of things to happen, there is also an internal narrative of ‘me.’  But, when the causal structure underlying the ego has been dismantled, the ego is seen for what it is – an illusion.

Our personal self is clearly limited.  We are limited in our sensory abilities; for example, we can only experience our surrounding environment through our five senses.  In ordinary consciousness, we have no direct access to the thoughts, emotions, or sensations of another person.  Enlightenment appears to erase many, if not all, of these boundaries.  There are many examples in the spiritual literature of holy people who can perceive the thoughts and emotions of others. 

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With Enlightenment, the person is consciously participating in a unitive consciousness, in the awareness of All-That-Is.  Our usual perceptual boundaries appear to be erased, and consciousness extends far beyond our ordinary limits.  Of note, this consciousness extension appears to be effortless.  The enlightened person is not trying or striving at this point; rather, these extensions appear to fall into the category that C.G.Jung described as synchronicities. Whatever the enlightened one needs at the moment – information, healing, or whatever – is spontaneously supplied through participation in this extended Awareness.

This attribute of effortlessness is important for the spiritual aspirant to understand.  Enlightenment is not attained by striving, by seeking, or by effort.  This understanding is directly opposed to the understanding of almost every spiritual aspirant who has ever existed!  But when you think it through, it makes perfect sense.

From the perspective of unitive consciousness, the perspective of All-That-Is, there is nothing to learn – everything is already known, so learning is a meaningless concept.  From the perspective of All-That-Is, there is nothing to strive for – it has already been achieved.  

Right now, as I write this, the words of a long-forgotten Zen teacher whose lecture I attended some fifty years ago are rambling through my head.  He said, “There is nothing to attain.”  When I heard this, I remember thinking, “Hogwash!  If there is nothing to attain, what’s the point of your teaching and my being here?”  Oops!  Once again, it looks like the joke is on me.

Back to our point.  If there is nothing to achieve, then our spiritual practice does not ever reach a final culmination, some great “A-ha” moment.  This is not to say that Enlightenment is never reached, or that the various spiritual practices we employ have no value.  

Clearly, our disciplined practice changes our lives in many important ways.  We become more focused, more loving, more compassionate, and more engaged with what is actually real rather than our projections and fantasies.  A whole host of important benefits!  But while our practice prepares us for the spiritual transformation of Enlightenment, it can never actually result in our Enlightenment.  Why?  Because there is nothing to attain.  Because, in the non-dual environment, there is no cause-and-effect as we expect.  Because the Kingdom of Heaven is already inside of us.  

From the non-dual perspective, the universe is a continuous, self–unfolding, self-revealing unity.  From this perspective, it seems clear that the universe did not come into being with a Big Bang.  While the Big Bang makes sense from our conventional, linear perspective, it makes no sense at all from a non-dual perspective.  (Rather than address this now, I will come back to this point in the future newsletter.)

Of note, the perception that there is nothing to attain is congruent with the teachings of every advanced spiritual teacher I have ever met.  From the perspective of unitive consciousness, we are already there.  We are already Enlightened.  From our perspective, however, we have yet to experience this.  Talk about the ultimate in frustrating experiences!  It’s like having a billion dollars in a secret bank account that we know nothing about, while we scramble about to put food on the table.  But I digress…

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Along with the idea that there is nothing to attain, there is an end to the internal struggles we typically have.  To my mind, this is one of the more significant attributes of Enlightenment.  Because the enlightened one is in touch with All-That-Is, there is no internal conflict.  In the face of Enlightenment, all moral struggles dissolve because the individual understands completely why something happens.  Instead of choosing between two options, the enlightened one's actions arise spontaneously in complete harmony with Reality.  Thus, there is no ‘decision-making’ in the conventional sense.

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Another attribute of Enlightenment is the absence of fear.  Our fears are rooted in our sense of vulnerability.  We have an image of ourselves that we work hard to protect.  We want others to see us as strong or smart or pretty or powerful or… you fill in the blank.  When someone challenges our self-perception, we typically get defensive very quickly.  This defensiveness is rooted in our fear – our fear that we won’t belong, that we won’t fit in, that we won’t be connected.  So we get angry to protect ourselves, and this anger often results in the too-frequent wars we engage in.

But, if there is no sense of an individual self, then there is nothing that can be afraid.  There is no conflict in All-That-Is; there is simply a spontaneous self-unfolding.  The apparent conflicts we see – between individuals, groups, and countries – are the result of past karma working itself out.  (More on this in another newsletter.)

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This brings us to another attribute of Enlightenment, the sense of inviolability.  Because the enlightened one finds herself connected with all of Reality, nothing can threaten or diminish such a one.  There is no loss, there is no illness, and there is no death that has any existential impact.

The individual self can experience loss, and frequently does.  But when the self recognizes its true nature, not as an individual unit, but as participating fully in the greater whole, in All That Is, how can there possibly be any loss?

To make this point, let’s walk through an example.  Let’s say a person you dearly love dies.  From the dualistic perspective – the perspective of an individual self – you have incurred a terrible loss.  Your beloved is no longer here; he is no longer accessible.  You feel a terrible emptiness as a result.  

From an awareness of the underlying unity, however, there has been no significant change.  The form of your beloved has changed, of course, but this is simply part of the spontaneous unfolding of Creation.  (In actual fact, all of our forms are constantly changing as our cells in our bodies die and are replaced – spontaneously.)  Your beloved's underlying awareness – their loving presence – is still present and available to you.  As a result, the enlightened one experiences no sense of loss.

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This brings us to what is perhaps the most important attribute of Enlightenment.  Dr. Hawkins describes the fundamental quality of Reality as Love.  This seems to align with the teachings of many other great spiritual teachers.  But Hawkins' understanding of love is significantly different from our conventional understanding.

Conventionally, love is considered an emotion.  This emotion is directed here or there, and is limited and circumscribed by boundaries.  For example, we love this one and that one, but the ones over there, we despise.  Hawkins' view is quite different.  He states that Love is the nature of Reality itself.  It is not directed at certain individuals and withheld from others.  Rather, it is an impersonal field of positive, beneficent regard.  It does not imply either warmth or kindness.  It is simply the nature of Reality.  It is what Is.

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Well, enough for today.  I don’t know how you feel after reading this, but I am exhausted by the effort of trying to think through what Enlightenment actually means, and the various aspects and implications surrounding this topic.  Next week, I will focus on what Enlightenment is not.  I often find it helpful, when trying to understand something, to explore what that something is not.

Thank you for bearing with me in this process.  I feel a sense of your presence and your interest in these topics, and that perception supports me as I try to dive deeper and deeper.  I’m deeply grateful for your continued interest and would ask that you keep me in your prayers.

Faithfully yours,

P.S.  These newsletters were written in a particular order, but due to the limitations of our email delivery system, we cannot send them in the order in which they were written.  We can send out the first five in order, but then the system sends out the next one, whatever that happens to be.

So, if you are suddenly moving from issue #5 to issue #whatever, it might be a little jarring.  If this sounds like you, I would encourage you to go back into our archives and do your best to read them in order. 

Humility as a Tool  → Letting go → Fear → Openness →  Acceptance & Growth

If you are finding this newsletter course helpful, you may want to consider Dr. Kaisch's latest book, Inside the Invisible:  The Universal Path to Spiritual Transcendence.👇

To access the other newsletter editions of the “Inside The Invisible Newsletter,” or if you’d like to read ahead or go back.

Please Note: These newsletters are meant to be read in order.